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Railroader Biographies George H Daniels

George H. DanielsThe ‘Twentieth Century Limited’ and the ‘Empire State Express’ were originated by George H. Daniels who was the General Passenger Agent and later the first advertising manager of the New York Central. His many contributions to the success of the Central rank him as one of the greats of American advertising. Daniels worked on Mississippi steamboats as a youth and sold patent medicine before joining the railroad in 1889. He was a great publicist and did such things as give “red caps” their name and put the ‘Empire State Express’ on a postage stamp.

George H. Daniels, the NY Central General Passenger Agent, turned his advertising magic on and built the Thousand Islands up as a premier resort area.

Today’s Poor Prediction
“It may, however, be safe to assume that it will hardly be possible to apply electricity to haul great passenger trains.”
– George H. Daniels, railroad executive, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1900.

In most of the complaints randomly picked from files, the newsroom seemed to get the last word. In 1903, George H. Daniels of the New York Central and Hudson River Rail Road Company threatened to pull display advertising because of the series of “mean articles” by F. C. Mortimer. Mr. Mortimer responded, “As for the number of ‘mean attacks’ mentioned by the amiable Mr. Daniels, they have appeared, perhaps, twice for every three times that the train service at the Grand Central Station has utterly broken down.”